The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Tokyo Thunder U-19 Soars Past Rival Giant Bear U-19 in Dominant 3-0 Victory

In an exhilarating showdown, the Tokyo Thunder U-19 triumphed over their city rivals, the Tokyo Giant Bear U-19, with a commanding score of 3-0. The match, which took place on a chilly Saturday evening, was a thrilling display of skill and determination, with set scores of 25-22, 25-9, and 25-11. This victory served as sweet revenge for the junior Thunder team, who had seen their senior counterparts suffer a bitter defeat against the same rivals at the beginning of the year, igniting a fierce competitive spirit in the young athletes.

Two rookie players emerged as standout stars for the Thunder U-19, driving the team's impressive performance. Setter Riku Agostini orchestrated the game with precision, flawlessly controlling the pace and flow of play. His ability to deliver accurate sets was crucial in keeping the Giant Bear defense on their toes. Meanwhile, pinch server Yuki Kobayashi wowed the crowd, scoring a remarkable 12 points directly from behind the service line, showcasing his powerful serve and strategic placement that left the opposing team scrambling to respond.

The victory had significant implications for both teams in the league standings. With this win, Tokyo Thunder U-19 climbed one spot to ninth place, marking a crucial step in their season as they surpassed Fukuoka Steel U-19, who fell to Kyoto Castle U-19, the league leaders, on the same day. Conversely, the Giant Bear U-19 faced the disappointment of dropping to fifth place, highlighting the competitive nature of the league as teams jockey for position in pursuit of championship glory. The atmosphere among the Thunder team reflected a newfound optimism as they aim to build on this momentum in their upcoming matches.

-0-

Yuki blinked furiously as his eyes never left a piece of Tokyo Shimbun newspaper on his hand. It was just a three-paragraph article, placed on the last page of the sport session that was there to promote local teams around Tokyo. The only people who read through this rubric were those who were enthusiastic about sports, and the amount of it shouldn't be that much.

Still, Yuki couldn't help but feel like his chest was swelled by pride.

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Honestly, he shouldn't have been this surprised when he saw his name was mentioned in the newspaper. After all, this was his third time already. The first was when Tsunemori was going to face Konan High, then it was the aftermath of the Maiko Factory's incident, and now this. However, the first one was shadowed by the worried feeling that they would play against the best team in the country, and the second one was not something to be celebrated on. So, this was probably the most special one for Yuki.

"What is that, Yuki-nii?" Hina climbed on his lap as she glanced at the newspaper in his hand. He shared it with the little girl, pointing at which part he read, and after a few minutes, Hina squealed happily, surprising all the residents of the orphanage. "You are in the newspaper again?!"

"Really?!" The first one to react was Taro. The second-oldest boy in the room leaned forward from his seat, trying his best to read the article too. "Woah, Hina-chan is right! You and Riku-nii are mentioned here! Awesome!"

"Hmph! Of course, he is!" Hina crossed her arms in front of her chest proudly as if it was she who was complimented.

"Yeah, if only someone didn't forget to take a video just as she promised…" Hiko, her twin brother muttered sarcastically.

"Are you still mad at me? I have already said I am sorry, right?" Hina's expression fell as she turned to her brother immediately and gave him her best doe eyes possible. "Brother, please, forgive me…"

At first, Hiko ignored his sister's plea, turning around his wheelchair to get ready for breakfast. However, Hina was persistent, and under the adorable gaze of his sister, he finally folded like a wet paper. "Whatever. Don't repeat it, okay?"

"Sure!" All the sadness was gone from the little girl as she jumped on her brother excitedly.

Yuki who watched the interaction from his seat just shook his head fondly. He knew that it was Hina's fault since the girl knew how excited her twin brother was about the game and how disappointed he was when Aiko told him it would be too crowded inside the gymnasium and moving around with a wheelchair would be inconvenient. The only thing that made Hiko give up on going to the game with the others was because Hina promised to record the game, so for the girl to forget about it completely was unforgivable.

'Fortunately, Hiko is not the type of boy who holds a grudge, especially to his siblings.' Yuki muttered.

"Well, what do we have here, our new celebrity?" Aiko came out of the kitchen with a plate full of bacon, smiling teasingly at Yuki.

"Don't praise me that much, Baasan, or my head will grow bigger." Yuki rubbed the back of his head bashfully.

"Oh, I don't need to worry about that. You are the humblest boy I have ever known." She hugged him, injecting all the love she had toward the most responsible boy in her charge. "Also, you deserve to be praised, so never shy away from that, okay?"

Yuki could only nod on her shoulder as words stuck in his throat. They were doing that for a moment, ignoring the children's protest about her being unfair there. After a while, she finally let him go and asked, "So, what are you going to do today?"

Yuki pondered for a moment before his eyes lightened up. "Well, maybe, I would…"

-0-

"Come on, Jimmy! Run! Run! Run! Don't stop until I say so!"

"Kai, spike harder! Your attack is so weak my grandma could receive it!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Rano, move! Use your instinct!"

Yuki stood confusedly as he saw so many strangers in Tsunemori's court shouting and torturing his senpai. This should have been his day off after the game yesterday, but since he didn't have anything better to do, the boy decided to come to the school and see how his senpai trained. He didn't expect that the training would be this intense though, with the players running with all their strength while being shouted by the trainers who Yuki himself didn't know their identity.

"Yuki-kun, what are you doing here?" Megumi's voice snapped him from his thoughts. When Yuki turned around, he could see the older girl looking at him with the same confusion in her eyes while she still had a book and a pen in her hand. "Should today be your day off?"

"Ah… Well, I am bored and I don't have anything better to do, so I decided to see how is the training going." Yuki rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Ho… So, you don't have anything better to do, huh? Maybe, I should dump Kato-chan on you, eh?" Megumi smiled knowingly – and teasingly – at him. Yuki squirmed uncomfortably under that gaze as if he were prey that was about to be eaten by its predator. Shaking his head, he decided to change the topic with a question, "So, who are they?"

"Oh, they are the club's alumni!" Megumi explained.

Yuki blinked his eyes once before parroting her words. "Alumni?"

"Yup! Akira-sensei asked for a favor and he was able to gather 12 alumni to help the team train better. You should've noticed Hisashi-san, right?" Yuki nodded when he saw a tall boy with ponytail hair instructing Koji to do something. He noticed the boy as the one on the commentator box when the game between senior and junior teams happened in the past. "Well, he is the one who gathers so many alumni in the first place! So, don't forget to thank him later, okay?"

Yuki just nodded his head, not turning his eyes from the older boy. Surprisingly enough, Hisashi suddenly turned his head around too, and somehow, their eyes met each other for a second. In the end, they just stared at each other before Hisashi gave a nod of respect that Yuki returned it immediately. However, this interaction alone was enough to attract Yuki's attention.

'So, that is Tsunemori's captain last year, huh? Interesting…'